Titanium Noir

If you like neo-noir you'll probably at least enjoy the read but it's nothing incredible.

An engaging noir tale set in a world where a Titan treatment makes a person larger and practically immortal. Cal operates as a detective working with police to solve cases involving Titans.

Fun noir detective story. Interesting setting and nice characters. Had some of the tropes about noir stuff that I find grate after a while – everyone is cynical and wise, the reader implicitly naive and ignorant, as though it's our fault. Also set in a nearish future but left out mobile and surveillance tech just because it was convenient to do so/didn't fit the tropes. Felt like a wee bit of a cop out, would have liked to see some acknowledgement of it in some way. But a very enjoyable read.

Harkaway is usually pacy, but this one felt particularly brisk and to the point (certainly shorter than his usual).

I really liked this noir mystery that wasn’t just gritty for the look of it. The influence of T7 and Titans on society was great food for thought, and I spent a bit of time wondering what being “human” would mean in such a world.

The entire story’s told in first person, present tense by Sounder. He’s an interesting character to follow around and competent without being smug or suspiciously lucky. I did initially wonder if he was hiding something special about himself to be doing the kind of job he was, but there were no gotcha moments of that sort.

I enjoyed the other characters a lot. They all felt like they were living their own lives with their own murky motivations rather than their actions revolving around Sounder and his case.

Plenty to get your teeth into in this SF noir